The Royal Palace confirmed Monday (Dec 3) that Royal Couple Prince William and Kate Middleton are having a baby!
The official statement from Buckingham Palace read:
Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Cambridge is expecting a baby. The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Harry and members of both families are delighted with the news.
The Duchess was admitted this afternoon to King Edward VII Hospital in Central London with Hyperemesis Gravidarum. As the pregnancy is in its very early stages, Her Royal Highness is expected to stay in hospital for several days and will require a period of rest thereafter.
“Hyperemesis Gravidarum” is apparently a form of “severe” morning sickness reserved for royal princesses only, so no need to worry … a few days of rest and Mama Kate will be back to normal!
The Associated Press notes that this pregnancy is “the most widely anticipated pregnancy since Princess Diana’s in 1981,” which was followed by the birth of Prince William in 1982.
Princess Diana once said: “The whole world [was] watching my stomach … I felt the whole country was in labor with me,” and no doubt the Duchess will feel the same.
Rumors of Kate’s pregnancy have been rampant for months, with one tabloid paper even citing anonymous sources talking about Kate’s hormone levels, while others have been focusing on the first signs of the royal baby bump.
Since Prince William is second in line to the throne after his father, Prince Charles, he and Kate’s first child — whether a girl or boy — is next in line to become a monarch eventually, thanks to a new legislation that gives females equal status with males in the order of succession.
“Put simply, if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were to have a little girl, that girl would one day be our queen,” British Prime Minister David Cameron told reporters in 2011.
